Theatre Review: One Night There
Article published: Wednesday, February 9th 2011
One Night There, a tale of a world ruled by men and a woman’s battle to retain her identity, explores the identity that women will hold onto in a world where they are forced to be faceless, subservient and silent whilst battling to escape servitude.
The re:play Festival this year is a coming together of the Contact Theatre and The Library Theatre Company in order to bring the best of new theatre of the past 12 months.
One Night There, written by Bhean Ali and directed by Borhan Mohammadi, is a play that is heavily influenced by the writer’s background and ethnicity as a Kurd and centres on a unnamed country where women are subjugated and are forced to live as secondary citizens with little or no rights. The play opens with a woman, the protagonist played by Rachel Horley, who finds herself alone and in the dark, wailing aloud as to where she is before another unnamed woman reveals herself and attempts to calm her. Finding herself immersed in this world, she struggles to retain her sense of individuality while keeping herself sane amongst a world dominated by men and living amongst other women who have capitulated to society.
Originally a Kurdish play that has been translated by Crystal Stewart, there are a few interspersed monologues and songs in Kurdish. One Night There does not reveal much in terms of location or names, which some might argue adds to the intended pathos of the theme of identity and individuality and its near-loss by the protagonist. As the play goes on however, there is a sense of underwhelming realism. The dialogue becomes littered with a few vague references of a religion that many might interpret as Islam, which is no surprise as Bhean Ali hails from a part of the world where it is the dominant religion and where women are still facing an uphill battle for equality and rights.
A particular scene where men mock the donning of bracelets, high-heels and other associated paraphernalia along with the need for the women in this world to constantly wear the ‘hijab’ or headscarf lends credibility to this particular view.
While there is a danger that the play might relies too heavily on literary works such as Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, throughout the play it becomes apparent that the work is more influenced by the writer’s background. The play itself is not particularly forceful, and at forty-five minutes may do itself no favours as many scenes seem hurried and the dialogue fails to grip – possibly due to translation problems.
Despite this, there were still one or two scenes were good where the energy of the cast brought some emotiveness to the fore and so One Night There stands as a play with an interesting plot that has potential.
Mohsin Iqbal
The Re:play festival took place at the Contact Theatre towards the end of January. For more details about the Contact’s listings, click here: http://www.contact-theatre.org/
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